As I was reading through the bills introduced to the Maine state legislature this session, I came across LD 233, titled “an act to prohibit biological males from participating in school athletic programs designated for females when state funding is provided to the school.” LD 233 would prohibit transgender women from participating in any activity that is designated as “women’s” at the University of Maine, and at all publicly-funded schools in the state. UMaine thrives because of our transgender classmates, who add significant value to this university. Lawmakers should be ashamed they are legislating against our classmates, who have done nothing wrong.
The Maine Campus firmly stands against this bill and all others replicating its purpose. This week Donald Trump signed an executive order, banning transgender women from participating in sports. These ignorant bills hurt the transgender community, and create deep divisions in the United States.
These bills are created to stop an issue that does not exist. Nationwide there are only 10 transgender NCAA athletes. Out of 500,000 NCAA athletes only 0.00002 percent are known to be transgender. As a woman who once participated in UMaine club sports, I never felt uncomfortable or endangered by the idea that one of my teammates or competitors could be transgender. Part of the reason I never thought about it was because it is infrequent enough, to the point that legislation against it is a waste of lawmakers time, therefore a waste of my tax dollars. Perpetuating these bills have created a culture and conversation around transgender individuals that is dangerous. Republicans, primarily, have created enemies for their entire base. Many republicans I have spoken to can not name anyone they personally know who is transgender, they can only legislate against them.
Oftentimes, it appears legislators create problems so that they do not have to solve the real issues we face everyday. UMaine has a billion dollars in deferred maintenance, and young people in Maine cannot economically compete with people moving here from wealthier states. However, this bill does not actually improve students’ lives. This bill does not make any of the universities in Maine better to attend. This is a bill that is built out of ignorance, not the desire to improve students’ lives.
While some legislators occasionally introduce legislation that helps students, this is a great example of why young people are disconnected from politics. The bills being introduced rarely intend to make students’ lives better. And sometimes, when bills aim to make our life too good, the University turns around and lobbies against us. However, we cannot allow others to disconnect us from our government.
If you want the legislature to pass bills that actually improve our university, you can use this website to contact legislators, and tell them yourself. You can also give testimony over zoom on any bill introduced. You can advocate for all students right from Orono. We encourage lawmakers to stop dividing us with legislation, and encourage students to speak out against these bills.
